Books from every corner of the bookshelf reviewed by your wild and crazy librarian on a one woman mission to find that special book for every reader across the globe. Can often be seen tilting at windmills.

I do not think that there can ever be enough books about anything and I say that knowing that some of them are going to be about Pilates.The more knowledge the better seems like a solid rule of thumb, even though I have watched enough science fiction films to accept that humanity’s unchecked pursuit of learning will end with robots taking over the world.-Sarah Vowell

Monday, April 18, 2016

A Mind To Murder by P.D. James

P.D. James is a classic. This book was written in 1963 and is the second in the Superintendent Adam Dalgliesh mystery series (the first, Cover Her Face was wonderful; you hated the victim and liked all the suspects). You don't need to read the first book to read this one.

One evening, in a psychiatric clinic, the administrative officer is found murdered in the basement file room with a chisel cleanly piercing her heart. This is a unique take on the locked door mystery, as the porter at the front desk would see anyone coming in, the murder was discovered forty minutes after someone last saw her, and the building was quickly searched and locked up tight. So the killer has to be one of the psychiatrists, nurses, secretaries, or porters working that night. Some people alibi each other out, while a few have no alibi at all and nearly all of them had the medical knowledge to stab someone directly in the heart without missing.

Is it Dr. Baugly the ECT and LSD therapist, whom the victim, Miss Bolan, told his wife about the affair he was having with Miss Saxon, one of the therapists there, and neither of whom have alibis. Or the Freudian therapist who despised her and went missing right before his 6:15 appointment? Was it Nurse Bolan, her cousin, who stands to inherit Miss Bolan's sizable fortune? No one really liked Miss Bolan.

Right before she died, she called one of the Administrators to discuss a matter. She suspects someone is being blackmailed and perhaps is going down to the records room to find out who and maybe the blackmailer wants her dead before he is found out.

This great mystery has no shortage of suspects and confounds Dalgliesh to the point that he begins to believe that this may be the first case he will not solve. There are a lot of twists and turns and unexpected surprises in store for the reader. Good Read!